Zag B-Ball – Sunday Ball/Fight Club – John Stockton

[tarheelute]

Tangent discussion to Running Ute Basketball.  But a good example of how Gonzaga’s preeminent alumnist, John Stockton primes to pump for recruiting.  Also a very good story – John is still a beast.

 

The First Rule of Sunday Ball Is: You Do Not Talk About Sunday Ball

SI Link

 

– Too bad Utah does not have something like this

[Ute Dub]

Super fun article to read. Thanks for sharing. 

[Utesbyfive]

That is really cool. Stockton is just about my favorite ever player. Stock and Malone. The good old days when it wasn’t totally about the superstars. Jordan really changed the game, and not for the better, although it wasn’t really his fault.

[MDUte]

Awesome article, thanks for posting! I’ve always idolized Stockton…greatest PG ever to play the game IMO. I wish Utah had a similar tradition/culture that brought in the alumni and up-and-comer prospects in such a powerful way. That has undoubtedly been huge for Gonzaga. 

[Ute Dub]

I’ll share my own Utah Jazz story. In 1991 I was 11 years old and sitting in the poorest gym with some of the poorest kids in the valley in Magna, Utah waiting for the Utah Jazz player appearance for our Jr. Jazz League. Now, the Jazz had just barely got home from a 2-1/2 week east coast road swing and also they had a home game the next night. Knowing this, all the dads and coaches had prepared us that we would likely not see a starter, but more likely we would see Eric Leckner, Delaney Rudd, Jose Ortiz, something like that. But guess what? The freaking MAILMAN walks in, in the prime of his career, 6’9″ and all, does his thing for 2 hours, has kids throwing him alley oops, puts us through drills, talks to all the kids about working hard, running the floor, listening to your coach, etc. Then goes and scores 35 points the next night. Such a fun night. Such great stories the next day at school. I’ll forever be grateful that such a high profile guy would take time to do that. Yeah, yeah, probably in his contract, but still, he could have easily deferred to another time and had a rookie come instead but nah, he came. Amazing to me!

[tarheelute]

I met John Stockton as a Rookie, at the Police Athletic League facility on SLC’w west side. Early eighties. I imagined he would be short, considering how he looked side-by-side with Malone and the others. I was very surprised at how large he was in person at 6′ / 6’1″. He was well built, with extraordinarily large hands and feet. He could easily palm the ball. But at the same time he was great with the kids, those that I was coaching, and all those who came out to see him.

I wish someone like Van Horn, Josh Gran or Andre Miller had that relationship with Utah – maybe they do, but certainly there is no “sunday ball” or basketball “fight club” in SLC.

[UtesRule]

If you are A John Stockton fan, look up this video on YouTube (you will NOT be disappointed): The Compete Compilation of John Stockton’s Greatest Stories told by NBA Players & Legends.
The complete compilation of John Stockton’s Greatest Stories told by NBA players and legends

[Ute Dub]

I watched that the other day, perhaps you shared? Great stuff.